Campaign of the Month:
June 2012

Crimson Skies

Bantami

Physical Description

Bantami, also known as halflings, typically stand about 3 feet tall, and weigh only 30-35 pounds. Skin color ranges from a light to dark tan, to deep ruddy, and eye color is typically black or brown. Their hair is sometimes fair, but usually black, and falls straight. Males often wear long sideburns, but beards are rare and mustaches almost unheard of. Females love to wear their hair in elaborate braids, and a favorite pastime for them is to sit in braiding circles and try to outdo each other. Many prefer to walk barefoot, leading to the bottoms of their feet being roughly calloused though city dwellers soon adapt to wearing footwear. Tufts of thick, curly hair warm the tops of their broad, tanned feet. Bantami are considered adults at the age of 20 and usually live into their second century.

Bantami are clever, capable opportunists. They have no true homeland, for their kind have mingled with other societies for as long as anyone remembers. It is rumored that they once came from an idyllic land of milk and honey, but no one knows where this mythical place, called Xanadu, may be. The Bantami speculate, but their are no written records known to indicate where this land might be, and most of the other races deny that such a place exists.

Urban Bantami tend to congregate into boroughs or neighborhoods. Rural Bantami usually form clans. Depending on the family, or clan, Bantami might be reliable, hard-working citizens, or they might be thieves just waiting for the opportunity to make a big score and disappear in the dead of night. A typical Bantami prides himself on his ability to go unnoticed by other races — it is this trait that allows so many to excel at thievery and trickery. Most Bantami, knowing full well the stereotyped view other races take of them as a result, go out of their way to be forthcoming and friendly to the bigger races when they’re not trying to go unnoticed.

Bantami adventurers are typically looking for a way to use their skills to gain wealth or status. The distinction between a Bantami adventurer and a Bantami just out to make a big score can be blurry. While Bantami opportunism can sometimes look like larceny or fraud to others, a Bantami adventurer who learns to trust her fellows is worthy of trust in return.

It is rumored that in the deep jungles of the Afrik Nations there exists a sub-race of the Bantami, perhaps a distant cousin to the race, called Pygmies.

In the rugged mountains of Southern Kushar live the rugged and xenophobic Drokari Tribesmen.